7614/Q-Banding

Q-Banding
Date of Scene:	30 August 2021
Location:	Outside the Milano, Halfworld
Synopsis:	After Vance unintentionally triggers some painful memories for Fin, Ava tries to make her feel better.
Cast of Characters:	Ava Starr, Vance Astro, Finley Ellison

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Ava Starr has posed:
Ava stands several meters away from the Milano, in an open field. She's facing away from anything important -- including the ship and the settlement beyond. She's clad in her Ghost suit, the bands wrapped around her forearms over the suit. The fact that they tend to do that, just settle themselves over her clothes when necessary, is at once both disconcerting... and exceptionally helpful. She'll be the first to tell you, though, that peeling off a suit 'through' the bracers is just really surreal. Even with her powers of phasing, it's weird.

Her hood is back and her mask is off. She doesn't need either of those, she hopes. She really just wants to see if she can do *anything* with the bands. But maybe something more along what she's already used to, rather than trying to create stuff out of thin air.

Vance Astro has posed:
    "Okay. My suggestion is.. start simple. I've seen the bands in action more than once, and I can tell you some of what they can do." offers Vance as he stands about ten feet back, photonic shield held up to assist in defending himself and Finley. "Try the most basic... not a construct. Just try to blast that rock over there. Point your hands at it, and will the bands to shoot. Just a thought." he offers with a smile, "You got this." he adds.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finely stands to the side, tablet outstretched. Of course she's recording. Even if she can't understand exactly what Ava is doing, observation is the first step. "What do you want to try to do, Ava?" she asks.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava glances to Vance at his advice. She's not sure it's really that simple. Finley's question, however, doesn't elicit a much different response. She glances to her friend and suppresses a grimace. "I know how to direct quantum energy," she says. "If these things are supposed to shoot energy, maybe starting with that makes sense." After all, it can't be that different... can it?

She raises her fists and flexes her hands a little before she focusses on the rock Vance suggests and focusses what she considers to be a low level of thrust.

What happens, however, is a whole lot more than she's expecting. A flash of bright energy ignites her fists and streaks across the intervening space. Not only does the rock get vaporized, but Ava finds herself thrown back a couple of dozen feet, skidding across the thick meadowgrass on her ass. If it wasn't for the fact she went intangible the moment she gathered that quantum energy, she'd probably have some very embarassing grass stains and have left quite the furrow in the earth. Fortunately, intangibility spares a body that sort of embarassing evidence.

Vance Astro has posed:
    "Well, that was a bit more than expected. Now... the Keeper once told me that the bands are -called- Quantum Bands, but the energy they use isn't Quantum Energy. Nor is it Cosmic Energy. They are literally tapping into an extradimensional plane that he called the Quantum Zone. Apparently, this is where all energy in this universe originates. It is pure potential energy, and the bands transform that into any energy in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Or pure force."

    He says this as he steps over to offer Ava a hand to help her up. Then he looks to Finley, "I am sure you could come up with some fun ways to use energy from any or all of the wavelengths of the EM Spectrum, eh?" he asks, trying -not- to ignore her. Trying to make her and him involved as a team here.

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley is torn between running to Ava, showing concern, celebrating her success, or recording the aftermath. In the end the scientist wins out. The she goes over to the vaporized rock."Mmmm?" She hadn't actually heard what Vance had said to her. She's too busy with the radiation readings.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava is still intangible, as evidenced by the fact her butt is sunk into grass that pokes up through her abdomen. So, she doesn't bother taking the man's hand. She flips herself to her feet and doesn't do much more than look her legs over to make sure there's nothing too bad clinging to it. "I'm *fine*," she says, ignoring most of his words. Her words are mostly for Finley's benefit, since no one actually asked.

She glances to Vance. She has no idea if all the words he spewed are correct or not. For all she knows, they could be. All she really knows is that the gentle thrust she tried to direct turned into a cannon. "It's more than I could do before, anyway."

Finley Ellison has posed:
"Wherever it came from, whatever you did, it definitely left ionized particle radiation," Finley says, looking up. "So I guess we can call that a charged particle beam, or well, that's scientifically accurate, but I guess you could call it a blast cannon, if you wanted."

Ava Starr has posed:
When one of the villagers -- a koala, perhaps -- comes to ask for help, Vance excuses himself to be the hero they need, promising to return to continue the experiments as soon as he can. Ava watches him go and then trots over toward Finley.

"I don't think it really matters what I call it. At least, I know I won't be defenseless anytime soon." She crouches down beside her and looks at where the rock was. "That was easier than making a marble."

Finley Ellison has posed:
"Direction usually is easier than creation," Fiinely says. "But the marble was safer while we were in space."

She seems hyper-focused on the tablet readings, but Ava's paid enough attention to her body language to see the tension radiating through her short frame. And she's not wearing a lab coat to mask it.

Ava Starr has posed:
"Uh-huh." Ava entirely agrees with Finley, given how far back she threw herself. And the damage the bast did. But Finley's body language is a different matter entirely.

Ava jostles Finley very lightly with her shoulder, crouch walking a little closer. "Hey," she says. "What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley shakes her head. "Not you," she says. And then, "It's stupid." As if that explains anyrthing.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava chuffs softly, a bit of a wry smile touching her lips. "Hey. It's me you're talking to. I'm the queen of stupid shit, right?" Her hand slips across Finley's back, her gloves cool and her hand very definitely tangible now. "What's wrong?"

Finley Ellison has posed:
Shaking her head again, Finley lets out a heavy breath. She glances toward the direction that Vance had gone to offer his assistance. She bites her lip. And looks at Ava, her anxiety plain now.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava glances off to where Vance went. Her eyes narrow slightly. She looks back at Finley. "Captain Wannabe?" A brow arches faintly at that speculation. "You know I don't understand half of what he says, right?" More accurately, she doesn't *listen* to half of what he says. "You shouldn't, either." A beat. "Unless he's right?" About what, she doesn't know.

Finley Ellison has posed:
"It's not that. He's trying to be helpful. He really is. But well, I've known guys like that for basically my entire life. I mean, my entire career I've been condescended to by helpful men who only see a little girl. Aren't my experiments just quirky and 'fun'? And I should just be a team player while they talk over me and use my ideas. Because obviously a child couldn't have thought of that. And then, once it was 'appropriate' to find me attractive, obviously a girl couldn't..." The words die away in Finley's distress. Tears glisten in her eyes. "Not his fault, but..."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ah. *That* Ava actually understands. The underestimated woman. What woman in the world hasn't felt that at the hands of the men around her -- well meaning or not -- at least once? She reaches out and pulls Finley to her, settling down on her seat. "Still annoying as hell." She finishes Finley's sentence.

She settles Finley in her lap, smiling wryly as she realizes she blew up the rock she'd otherwise have leaned against. Poor planning, that. So, she just wraps her arms around her friend, instead. "He's a plonker, Fin. Means well, yeah. Wants to be Captain Bloody America. But he's not. No more than I'm Phyla-Vell. Don't measure yourself according to him."

She lays her lips against Finley's hair. "Maybe he's right. Maybe he's wrong." She says, rubbing Fin's back again. "I don't know. I do know, though, he's not the one wearing these things. And he's pulling all his knowledge from a future in a different place entirely from this place. You're the one who's spent the last few months trying to help me figure this all out. You know more about me than he ever will." She snirks. "And you don't piss me off when you tell me what to do."

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley wraps her arms around Ava's neck and nestles her head into Ava's shoulder. She sniffs. "His body language, his *tone*, trying to make me feel like I'm 'part of the team'. But it's not even his team. It's *your* team. And I *know* I belong there. So why does he assume...?"

She stops and sniffles. And lets go of Ava long enough to sit up and wipe her eyes."Sorry I just saw every overbearing colleague I've ever worked with. Not to mention some terrible exes." She laughs as though that last little tidbit were an amusing anicdote.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava smiles wryly. "And you wonder why I pushed a bloke into the path of a tank." Her eyes gleam a little as she says it, a hint of teasing in her tone.

She grows more serious. "Look, I don't know what his deal is. But, think about it. If NASA really did launch him into space in the 80's, the man's a bloody boomer. What do you expect?" Yep. In time honoured Millennial fashion, she's totally pulling out the 'okay boomer' meme.

If the meme works, wear it.

She kisses Finley's brow lightly. "I'm sorry. I know this is more than just a lame-ass bit of mansplaining, to you." She cants her head faintly. "Not if your exes are in the mix."

Finley Ellison has posed:
"Let's just say I wouldn't mind if Professor Ballard found himself under some interlocking treads," Finley says with a small smile.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava chuckles softly, "That *can* be arranged, you know. He'd never see me coming." She's kidding. Mostly. Her embrace tightens around her friend. "You're my partner, yeah?" she says then, her voice dropping softly. Not a whisper, but not going to carry, either. "These Guardians. Captain Wannabe... I don't know 'em. I know you. I trust you. You got my back, Fin. And I got yours." She pulls back enough to tilt Finley's face up to look into her eyes. "There's no team. There's just you and me."

A beat. A somewhat cheeky grin. "The rest are just contractors, yeah? And we're just along for the ride. We get to Hala, find Yv-kar or whatever the hell his name is, find out what he knows, and boot it home. Maybe we kill a space god along the way. Maybe we don't. Doesn't matter. It's still you and me against the Universe, far as I can see."

Finley Ellison has posed:
Finley's fingers trail along Ava's jaw. And she kisses the older woman impulsively. Fervently. Gratefully. "You and me against the Universe," she whispers.